Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The willow is too close to the house.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Trump should be leading, not lying.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Super Bowl Stories

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Super Bowl Stories

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Figured I’d get this out of the way early, so that beloved curmudgeon Raven has the chance to ding me for hatin see it. Still don’t know from football, but I am — to quote the tag — riveted by the sociological significance of it all.

Will Leitch, in NYMag, “Was the NFL’s Success This Season Just a ‘Dead Cat Bounce’?”:

… After a few of the most tumultuous years the league has ever had, and the closest Goodell ever came to losing his job (which in retrospect probably wasn’t very close at all), 2018 was the calmest, happiest season the NFL has had in nearly a decade, at least. Television ratings, after a heavily debated downturn in 2017 that even led to Tom freaking Brady admitting he was paying less attention to the league than he used to, were back up this year. This has been the quietest CTE year since the league’s concussion crisis first broke through into the public consciousness, and, for the first time, the NFL’s sometimes laughably transparent defenses that the game is somehow “safer” now are being taken by many at face value…

Combine that with some truly compelling on-field product this year — thanks largely to innovations from the college game, offenses are running a more spread-out style, leading to higher scoring and more viscerally entertaining games — and it has been a dream season for the NFL… It’s even an ideal Super Bowl matchup, with the unquestionably fun Rams, led by an innovative head coach who’s eight years younger than Tom Brady, against those hated Patriots, a team we have such a national antipathy for that they might be the one thing everyone in this country can all agree on. Goodell, for the first time in years, can stroll up to that podium with a little swagger rather than the usual dodging of tomatoes. Fans angry at the refs? That’s the sort of “problem” Goodell will happily hold court on. It sure beats having Trump in his face all year, or facing existential threats to his game.

The question is whether this is a corner turned for Goodell and the NFL, or a dead-cat bounce — a confluence of happy circumstances that are unlikely to be repeated. The ratings, while up, still haven’t returned to the levels they were at before the initial 2016 slide, and ad revenue is in fact down for the league, largely because of those recent dips. Having Brady and the Patriots as everyone’s firing range, the most popular and hated team right at the center of everything, has to end sometime, and there are no obvious replacements in the wings…

Here in the pulsing liver heart of Patriots Nation, I can assure you that the NFL is not going away just yet. Although sometimes the sports fans don’t seem to be entirely invested in what the NFL is supposedly selling…



“… The wagering menu is twelve pages long.. “

And finally:

Reader Interactions

142Comments

  6. 6.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: I’ll probably watch,first time a team from LA has been in one since I was in grad school. Then again, the second largest media market in the country didn’t have a team for 20 years.

  9. 9.

    burnspbesq

    It’s the opening weekend of college lacrosse season. Are there other sporting events of significance?

  12. 12.

    Raven

    The Atlanta news has beat the “keeping you safe” and “sex trafficking” drums constantly. There are all these music events downtown but every new piece I’ve seem they look pretty empty.

  13. 13.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?!
    @NotMax: yeah, not my thing either

    I waited all day for deliveries of stuff that had been delayed by the polar vortex. Unfortunately, the primary one I needed for my business wasn’t delivered, even though it’s been sitting on the truck since the cold weather started. I contacted UPS to ask if it could be delivered today and they generously offered to let me know by calling at midnight last night. I told them don’t call, just deliver it. South Bend isn’t so big of a town that it shouldn’t have been delivered yesterday. Just annoying… And I’m hoping freezing didn’t damage the shipment.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    @Raven:

    It’s seems like every national story I see about the Superbowl is either (1) how to make healthy versions of your favorite snacks or (2) look at all the security that’s in place to protect the game.

  16. 16.

    Raven

    @satby: Yea, they just mentioned it to me last week so there wasn’t much I could do since I didn’t know. Our tenants live in boyfriend is a bit of a carpenter and I told him I have 3/4 flooring left over from our addition and I’ll take off the rent if he want to repair it.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Feel your pain. Package sent out from the mainland via Priority Mail on Monday the 28th has been languishing in Honolulu for the last 24 hours per USPS tracking site. As I pay for the postage on it, haz a disgruntlement.

  18. 18.

    Raven

    @Baud: They closed Stone Mountain today because the confederate dudes were planning and event (that apparently fizzled anyway). They are having problem with lots of illegal drones flying all over by the Benz too.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    @Raven

    Difficult to tell from the photo but it does look as if that section has been repaired, patched or replaced before.

  20. 20.

    burnspbesq

    Bigger local-interest story in Atlanta is United selling its best player, Miguel Almiron, to Newcastle United of the English Premier League for $10 million.

  26. 26.

    Raven

    ATLANTA — The sky above the stadium that will host Sunday’s Super Bowl is being “inundated” with an alarming number of drones, raising the specter of injuries to tourists or others — or a possible collision with aircraft, the FBI said Friday.

    That’s despite an ongoing restriction that bans the use of drones in the area of Mercedes-Benz Stadium downtown.

    Officers on Thursday confiscated a half-dozen drones that were flown near the stadium, FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said Friday at the agency’s Atlanta field office. The cases will be referred to federal prosecutors for possible charges; the drone pilots could face jail time and fines, Rowson said.

    “If these drones go out of control — if a pilot loses control of one — they can go into a crowd and cause serious injuries,” Rowson said.

    The potential for terrorism is also a concern.

    “When we look up into the air and see a drone flying in the air, we have no idea if it’s friendly, or if it’s someone who has nefarious plans and it’s weaponized,” he added.

    In recent days, multiple helicopters have been patrolling the air space above the stadium and surrounding area, often swooping below the tops of Atlanta’s downtown buildings as part of a massive security operation.

    “A drone impact with a fixed-wing aircraft or a helicopter would be catastrophic,” FBI Special Agent John Cronier said.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: Ooooff.

    How much is like that? I assume that’s the worst? Did you test the joist with a knife or nail to see how much penetration you’d get? (same with flooring) It has obvious rot where that board is nailed to the flooring for the first 1-1 1/2″ (the question being is there enough good wood in that joist to nail a sister board onto it)

    That amount of mold means you definitely have a ventilation problem in addition to the lack of gutters.

    Also, assuming you have a support beam running down the center of the house, what is the condition of that end of it?

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    @burnspbesq:
    Does Mike Ashley think one transfer is enough? Unless he releases enough funds at the end of the season for a more thorough refresh of the team, I think Rafa Benitez might still leave.

  30. 30.

    Raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: That is the worst part of it. The joists seem to be in pretty good shape and I’ll have to look at the support beam. He’s going to do temporary repairs with the leftover flooring I have and when they move we’ll see what else we can do. There are vents so I’ll have to explore what else I can do about the ventilation. For some reason my bride doesn’t believe in gutters so I think I’ll just call “Blanco” and have him put them up (Saturdays and cash only)!

  31. 31.

    Raven

    My neighbor works for Zaxby’s and he said they are running a Superbowl commercial that has Jeff Saturday and Rick Monday and it’s a mild jab at Chic-Fil-A being closed on Sunday!

  32. 32.

    burnspbesq

    @Amir Khalid:

    They also brought in Antonio Barreca on loan from Monaco.

    UK media are reporting that the transfer fee for Almiron was £21 million. If correct, that would almost certainly be a record amount paid for a MLS player.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: If the rest of that joist is OK, you should be able to get away with just scabbing a 4′ or 6′ length of 2×6 onto it. With the rot that localized I don’t really expect for there to be any problem with the beam but it is a thing to check just to be safe.

    If I had to I’d bet this rot is located under a window. Would probably be a good idea to spend some caulk gun time on it.

  34. 34.

    Victor Matheson

    @Baud: Actually, also quite a few stories on the economic impact (or lack thereof) of the big game often featuring extremely smart-sounding and good-looking economists.

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: On the ventilation, the vents should be on opposite sides of the house and the size and number of them depends on how big the house is. From yesterday’s pic I would guess 2 on each side and approximately 6″ or 8″ by 12-18″. The most important thing is that they be on opposite sides of the house so that when the wind blows it can pull fresh air thru the crawl space.

    It’s possible your’s are blocked and/or so dirty air can’t move freely thru them.

  40. 40.

    JPL

    @Raven: Zaxby’s uses real chicken and not the pressed kind, so that’s where I go for a grilled chicken salad. I don’t have fast food often, but when I do it is Zaxby’s.

  41. 41.

    otmar

    I’m supposed to go skiing with the family Monday morning, which is slightly incompatible with watching the super bowl until 3am.

    So I’ll be skipping at usual.

  43. 43.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Yesterday I moped around being sad. My son had his aged golden lab put down. A friend who was recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer is struggling to deal with it (I’ll drive to her place on Thursday and spend a little while). And then, as always, Trump and his ilk, augmented by Northam. Today will be better. I saw a dog’s calendar on FB. Every square was filled in with “the best day of my life.” Today, I will think like a dog (using “think” loosely).

  46. 46.

    JPL

    There is no doubt in my mind that Maher needs some type of intervention because he just can’t help himself but slip in a racist comment now and then. He had an excellent interview with Congressman Hurd about the republican party and the border wall, but then came the Popeye’s joke. What an racist ass.
    Deadline has the entire interview. link

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    @Raven

    Strictly armchair diagnosis, so take it as that.

    Those places where the brick is exposed in that picture, you might check if they’re in need of repointing and then being refaced.

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    Some asshole sexually harassed our 20-year-old daughter at work, and my husband and I are trying to talk ourselves out of hunting down and murdering the harasser.

    Pros: we’d stop being so goddamned angry.
    Cons: we might get caught and go to prison.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    @Raven: @Raven: “Inundated” and “six” don’t really go together, do they?

    Also, what is the “sex trafficking” drum? I take it they aren’t bragging about the wide range of tourist amenities?

  51. 51.

    opiejeanne

    Ugh! I’m awake because my CC company texted me at 3:30am to ask if I had just put $50 on a McDonald’s Arch Card Refill.
    No idea how anyone got that number since we rarely use it but I know there are ways to steal info like that. I really appreciate the notification, but I wish it had waited until a rational hour.

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: Side to side should be enough, but more in the back certainly wouldn’t hurt.

    Our bedroom has a crawl space (main building on a slab) and it’s venting is…. Inadequate to say the least (only vents on one side). When we bought it I did some rearranging of the rooms. In the process of removing the washer/dryer closet I found that the dryer vent went into the crawl space. And no further. You can’t imagine the mold down there.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    @burnspbesq

    If you have access to Netflix, ever watched Club de Cuervos? It’s a hoot. And the subplot regarding soccer superstar and pansexual machine Aitor Cardoné is both slightly bizarre and a double hoot.

    There’s even a spin-off mini-series revolving around one of the team co-owner’s eternal flunky, Hugo Sanchez.

  55. 55.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Betty Cracker:
    When tempted to slaughter, my friend and I remind ourselves that orange is just not a good color for us……then verbally m/f the offender…..and tg for each others good sense of humor ?

    I’m sorry you all have to deal with that crap.

  57. 57.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @opiejeanne: I just went thru that. The inanity of the purchases made just amazed me.

    “Really? A bunch of $1 Ebay bids? How can you be smart enough to hack (in my case BJC medical care) and yet still that stupid?”

    In the 3 or 4 days it took to discover the fraud they’d only racked up a few hundred $ worth of purchases. None of which I was responsible for, of course.

  59. 59.

    JPL

    @OzarkHillbilly: When we lived in IL we had a full basement that opened to the outside.
    One side was finished but the other side wasn’t. In winter I would block the vent opening to the outside and let it blow in the basement. I had panty hose over the vent to catch the lint. Anyway when our house was on the market, a realtor walked into the basement when I was doing laundry. You can imagine the rest.

  60. 60.

    Nelle

    When tempted to slaughter, I write it into a story. Current targets are televangelists conning people out of money and the top .001%. But it’s not quite so personal. I did help get my abuser put in prison for life, though. There is that. Convicted under sexually violent predator law. I was one of those who got away so not scarred and happy to testify against him.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    @JPL: She’s fine — tough as nails and doesn’t put up with anyone’s bullshit. She’s unhappy about the way the company is handling it, so she’ll probably look for another job.

  62. 62.

    opiejeanne

    @OzarkHillbilly: Years ago someone stole our CC# and we knew exactly how it was done. They flew from OC to Vegas and then spent $600 at a beauty supply store, and tried to buy two gift cards for the same amount twice at a Walmart in Vegas but the second time through the line their security stopped her and she ran. I found out when the security guy from that Walmart called me.
    They also tried to buy a car from Enterprise’s used car lot. Got a call from them too.
    Honestly, all this person had was a piece of paper with my CC# on it and cashiers were willing to let them use it?

  63. 63.

    Ken

    Balloon Juice: The one-stop site for pro tips on home repair, landscaping, cooking, and killing people without getting caught.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    Annie Linskey
    ‏Verified account
    @AnnieLinskey
    Jan 31
    More
    Democrats, after two years largely spent simply opposing everything President Trump advocated, are defining themselves lately in ways Republicans are seizing on as radical

    See, the first part of that is blatantly untrue, Democrats ran on health care, taxes and education in the midterms- so much so that it was noted at the time, that they were specifically NOT running on “simply opposing” Trump, but she needs it to set up the second part where she promotes the new GOP campaign theme, so she’ll just go with it.

    It’s really easy to run on health care. President Trump doesn’t offer anything at all and the GOP Congress are so compromised and cowed they may as well not exist, leaving a completely blank domestic policy space for Democrats to fill.

    Have they noticed the GOP offers absolutely nothing on domestic policy anymore? I myself think it’s because they don’t really have “a congress” but it also might be interesting to explore why President Trump feels he doesn’t have to offer ANYTHING other than a wall. Democrats are stretching out and filling the space from Left to Right because there’s nothing there- it’s empty of Republicans.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @opiejeanne:

    Honestly, all this person had was a piece of paper with my CC# on it and cashiers were willing to let them use it?

    When I was getting divorced I learned how easy it was for a person to get away with theft thru boldness alone. I had to give my ex credit for that.

  69. 69.

    Plato

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s terrible that she had to suffer through this horrible situation and the effing company doesn’t care. Can she sue the company for that attitude? Gone are the times companies got away with that kinda sexist crap.

  70. 70.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: The Republicans had “Lower Taxes!”. But they have destroyed that brand too. Also, “We support the troops the most!” Is quickly disappearing.

    Of course, this means the Democratic Party will have to be a bigger tent with a broader base. Some folks in the party (or pretending to be in the party) are not going to like that one little bit.

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    Have they noticed the GOP offers absolutely nothing on domestic policy anymore?

    Not true Kay. They’ll always have “Tax cuts!” and cutting SS and Medicare.

  72. 72.

    HeleninEire

    It’s a beautiful day here in Queens. A brisk 18°, no wind, and the sun is shining brightly. The sun. I missed the sun as the rule rather than the exception.

    Although I gotta say, a fecking POT of tea rather than a cup would be nice! :)

  73. 73.

    germy

    I’m sensing a definite pushback against cannabis legalization.

    We were switching TV channels this morning and saw a promo from one of the news networks: “Pets are being poisoned by pot!” (accompanied by a stock photo of some fat, dank bud)

  74. 74.

    debbie

    @opiejeanne:

    Had they waited, it might be a whole lot more than $50. You wouldn’t be liable, but I can’t blame them for wanting to keep their loss as low as possible.

    I once got a call from Amex asking if I’d just spent $1,500 on phone calls while in Hawaii. I told them to take a look at my records and see if they thought I could afford to travel there.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven:

    For some reason my bride doesn’t believe in gutters so I think I’ll just call “Blanco” and have him put them up (Saturdays and cash only)!

    I just double checked and my memory (for once) was correct: Your electrical service is mounted to the fascia. You’re going to have to move it before you can put gutters up.

  76. 76.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I had my card number stolen somewhere — probably one of the big Data breaches like Home Depot. Anyway — same thing with small amounts. But the card company caught them. The security people said that the strategy is to make some small purchases, wait a month or so to see if the card owner notices, then hit something big. The guy said that going straight to big ticket items was an unsuccessful strategy for card theives. I wondered whether his knowledge came from study or practice….

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I just love how they’re allowed to get away with this- what’s their solution on healthcare? I get that Trump got elected without offering anything and was never asked again, but one would think some of the congressional Goop’ers would have to offer something.

    Here’s a good question- what is Mitch McConnell’s health care solution? Lay that out for me. I’m a voter and I’d like to compare it to the Democrats 5000 plans. It’s like they announced “we’re just rubber stamping judges over here” and no one ever asked them again.

    I’m not necessarily unhappy about this- I’m ok with Democrats covering the entire field of domestic policy, because odds are between “Democratic policy and nothing” I’ll end up with Democratic policy, but do the GOP Congress come to work anymore?

  82. 82.

    Baud

    @germy:

    I think there will be issues to work through as marijuana becomes destigmatized.

    But pot has been around forever so I doubt pets never got into the stash before.

  84. 84.

    MagdaInBlack

    @germy:
    Who leaves their bud laying out where pets can get it?
    Isn’t it sweeps month, or do they even have that anymore? ( I’ve not had tv for 20 years)
    Also, is that all they have to sensationalize?

    ETA: ok young and dumb leaves it laying out: I recall a friends yorkie once ate about an 1/8th……she barfed and then she slept……really well.

  86. 86.

    p.a.

    I live about 3 miles from the casino so I’ll take a ride by just to see if traffic is especially heavy. A roundabout has been installed by one entrance. These things overload the VhoDyland driver mindset, (think: Whut you lookin’ at) not to mention the casino’s usual bluehair patrons.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It’s amusing because they specifically floated this “Democrats only oppose Trump, where are the SOLUTIONS?” theme in the midterms and then when it became clear it simply wasn’t true they backed off.

    It’s back, just in time to characterize the ONLY policy ANYONE is offering as “radical”. It may or may not be “radical” – that’s an opinion on her part- but the fact is it’s the only thing on offer out there.

    Republicans haven’t had a health care policy since “sell insurance across state lines” and that was 2008. More than a decade ago. President Trump has many uninformed and stupid opinions about health care, but he’s never actually offered anything, other than his support of the Democrats existing Medicare policy. He also supports the Democrats MediCAID policy, although only by omission, since he has no idea what Medicaid is.

    One could do a whole Trump interview with questions like “describe Medicaid in your own words” or “do we still have an individual mandate?” and it would be both terrifying and fascinating.

  89. 89.

    Immanentize

    In 1983 I was an intern at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, AL. Part if the work I did there was with what was then called Klan Watch. And one of the things I did with them was go “undercover” as a gawky white guy (I was) wearing a Sunoco jacket to serve a subpoena on the Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire Knights of the KKK during a Klan rally in Roanoke, Alabama.

    Reagan was president, Wilkinson at the rally just spouted economic arguments made by Republicans in a Klan robe from the back of a truck. Didn’t ever use the n word or any other obvious racial epithet, but the whole audience got it.

    No one I knew in the 80’s ever joked about the Klan or wore black face, let alone made it part of their personal publicity package in their promotional (year book) photos. I am quite pissed about this.

  90. 90.

    JMG

    @Raven: I assume the “sex trafficking” angle translates to “lots of hookers in town for the Super Bowl.” This isn’t even true and hasn’t been for a very long time. I covered Super Bowls from 20 to 39 (not good with Roman numerals) as a sportswriter and the last time there was a visible community of high cost sex workers at parties, restaurants, etc. was 22 in San Diego, which was 31 years ago. Atlanta’s home town prostitutes need not fear being undercut by cheap foreign competition.

  91. 91.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I think one thing that’s going on here is that, because Dems have higher standards for their political leaders than the Republicans have for theirs, the media thinks they are allowed to apply different, higher standards to Dems as well. Whether willfully or not, they don’t recognize that they are outsiders and they are not entitled to act like they are one of us.

  93. 93.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    My information has been hacked/compromised three times, most recently, fucking Equifax. I check my balances constantly, but the most annoying is all of the phone calls I get warning me about one thing or another. I’ve started letting everything go to voice mail and then writing down the messages. I don’t understand why they would use computerized voices; it’s a dead giveaway.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    No one I knew in the 80’s ever joked about the Klan or wore black face, let alone made it part of their personal publicity package in their promotional (year book) photos. I am quite pissed about this.

    The casual cruelty of it is what gets me. Just the complete disregard for other people in pursuit of such dumb-ass “amusement”, because that’s what it’s about to me- making it clear that these people have so little value that we can shit on them just for kicks. That’s the assertion of power behind it.

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @Bemused senior:
    Good luck with the surgery. I am sorry you have to go under the knife. But if it’s operable, then I am guessing the Docs think there is real hope of getting it all? My positive power thoughts are with you.

  100. 100.

    Immanentize

    @Kay:
    Also, you have to be in such an insulated community that no objection can leak in. Nobody can complain. That others are in on the joke whatever the fuck the joke is. Sorry, it stinks from start to finish — and it isn’t yet finished….

  102. 102.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I was probably like that as a kid. South Park obnoxious before their was a South Park. Thankfully, I grew out of it (I think).

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: Like electing Obama did? I see a pattern….

    ETA Actually, I think electing Reagan let the racists’ freak flags fly. Just like electing Trump is doing that. By the time Clinton was elected, the racists just went from proud to angry. That was 1985! Fer fucks sake. At a med school!

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It’s a violation of a norm, though, right? The norm is when you attack someone else’s idea you have to have your own, or at least explain why this issue is so unimportant you don’t plan to address it at all.

    Not in a formal legalistic sense “offer, counter-offer” but just in a normal human sense. It’s what you tell kids- “okay, that’s bad, you hate that idea, but what would YOU do?”

    Democrats actually have a border security plan. Pelosi or Schumer can and have run thru it. They’re observing the norm. Republicans aren’t required to have a health care plan- instead they can just spend a decade attacking Democratic plans.

  106. 106.

    Ken

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Or booze cookies and cakes. I bit into a rum ball when I was about six, I’m convinced that’s one of the reasons I can’t stand the taste of distilled spirits.

  108. 108.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    I think Reagan provided acceptance, but Clinton enabled them to come out into the open (beyond the South). I remember first hearing about militias when PBS interviewed members of the Michigan Militia shortly after the election. I couldn’t believe how stupid their ideas were (“The Constitution doesn’t say I have to drive at 55 mph”), but they seemed harmless at the time. Nothing like hindsight.

  109. 109.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I have to say though I’m not THAT upset about it – how it has played out is Democrats absolutely own health care as an issue, and they will also own education as an issue here shortly, and if they win the argument on taxes (and they might) they’ll own that issue too.

    The Koch’s have been really busy, because they’re fucking panicking about Lefty youth, but the other reason they stay so busy is they’re filling a policy void left by elected Republicans.

  110. 110.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I do think part of it is our fault. We have qualms about selling ourselves as, for example, the border security or national security or anti-crime or economic growth (as opposed to distribution) party, even though we are better at all these things than the GOP.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I don’t run this man’s life but for me he would have to do more than admit it’s hurtful and stupid as an incident. He has to work harder than that and think more. He has to recognize what’s behind it. That’s what Kavanaugh wouldn’t do and that’s the arrogance and ego. They want it to be a one off- a misstep- and that’s not thinking enough.

    We all agree that symbols are symbols because they stand for something larger. To ignore that or refuse to recognize what that “something larger” is, is not honest and it’s not dealing with it.

  116. 116.

    opiejeanne

    @debbie: This is true. The text reply after I denied the charge was that they were going to put a hold all other suspicious transactions until I order new cards. That made me wonder if there was already a string of purchases.

    It’s nearly six am and the password is downstairs so I will head downstairs in a bit to take care of this.

  118. 118.

    Skepticat

    Trump’s State of the Union aims for a unifying tone

    Today’s dumbest headline in the Boston Globe.

  119. 119.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    Have they noticed the GOP offers absolutely nothing on domestic policy anymore?

    Just because you don’t agree with it and it doesn’t accomplish good things doesn’t mean Republicans don’t offer domestic policy. Cut spending on everything except law enforcement and the military. Make discrimination legal. Remove women’s ability to have non-reproductive sex. Remove public education. Make discrimination legal. If the government has to spend any money, funnel it through private companies. Remove all regulations on everything. Make discrimination legal. I’m sure there are more examples I’ve forgotten. Tax cuts, of course.

    @Kay:

    what is Mitch McConnell’s health care solution? Lay that out for me.

    Remove all government spending and completely deregulate the industry. He says it out loud. Again, just because it produces the opposite effect you want doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a solution. Quite a lot of Republicans, at both voting and elected levels, believe this will result in them getting better healthcare because the undeserving will get weeded out.

    The thing is, enough Republicans at voting level have been slapped in the face with the prospect of losing their health care by the attempted ACA repeal that the ‘and that will make it better for me’ belief is merely widespread, no longer totally dominant. Elected Republicans, sheltered from personal consequences of destroying Medicaid, are continually dumbfounded when they get pushback on what is obviously the right thing to do.

    EDIT – Edited to fix my paraphrasia.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    No one I knew in the 80’s ever joked about the Klan or wore black face, let alone made it part of their personal publicity package in their promotional (year book) photos. I am quite pissed about this.

    I think yu can go too far with that too, though, and it’s another kind of bubble. There’s a lot of casual racism still around. We have a lawyer here who uses the n word “in jest” to own the libs. He also affects a southern accent as his ordinary speech which is completely baffling because he grew up here. He’s adopted this entire persona which also involves pretending not to understand how email works- you know- too folksy for this EEEEmail thinga ma bob. My husband mimics him and calls him “Mr Green Jeans” which makes me laugh because I am a 7th grader :)

  126. 126.

    opiejeanne

    @Frankensteinbeck: On Twitter there was a tweet about the Republican BS in Iowa* and someone asked, “Who elected these people?” I had to laugh. (Republican voters.Duh.)

    *Brain not totally braining right now, still groggy, can’t remember which particular chunk of stupidity it was. .

  127. 127.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Excuse making here: I’m not ignoring anyone. My computer keeps glitching and wiping out my posts. Mr DAW already replaced the video card once and is going to do it again once the card he ordered arrives.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Jalandhar, India (picture)

    A leopard attacks a man as another runs away in the neighbourhood of Lamba Pind. Subsequent attempts to capture the leopard led to the animal attacking at least six people, though no one was injured seriously, according to local media.

    Can I change my pants now?

  130. 130.

    WaterGirl

    @OzarkHillbilly: Ozark, I love this:

    If the NFL powers that be were any more oblivious to their own naked sexism, my desk would be splintered by the nuclear force of my head slamming thru it.

    It’s so versatile! This is perfect for Mad Libs

    NFL – sexism
    Republicans – racism
    privileged white men – so many I can’t possibly list them

    Oops, just realized my car has been running for 15 minutes. I almost never start the car before I get in, but with all the cold weather it seemed prudent. So now I can’t list any of them!

  131. 131.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    do think part of it is our fault. We have qualms about selling ourselves as, for example, the border security or national security or anti-crime or economic growth (as opposed to distribution) party, even though we are better at all these things than the GOP.

    Very Interesting point. I think that in 2008, voters accepted Obama as a better steward of the economy than McCain because the GOP had so completely wrecked everything. They were also willing to trust him on foreign policy and national security. In 2016, too many journalists simply ignored HRC’s message and focused on nonsense.

    In 2020, it just makes sense to keep hitting hard on how the Democrats are better than Trump on the economy and national security.

  132. 132.

    Spanky

    @Raven: You’re not in an historic district, are you? HD commissions should have no problem with installing gutters, but giving them a heads up is a good idea (and probably required!)

  136. 136.

    Brickley Paiste

    Watching or supporting football is clearly immoral. It makes you a shitty person.

    You are watching people injure themselves in a variety of ways. There are hundreds of documented cases of brain damage and probably thousands undocumented.

    Is now a good time to talk about how football is rape culture’s most fecund petri dish?

    Look, civilized people realized decades ago that bullfighting was barbaric. Maybe we could show a similar amount of concern for the human beings playing football.

    Does it make it better or worse that black men make up the ranks of so many teams. Does that make it easier to justify watching people damage themselves and destroy their futures for our amusement?

  138. 138.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    I know there are newer threads, but since this is the open one: I checked in with CZanne; she has a link on Twitter for donation she to her niece’s school, and with her permission I’m sharing it here:
    Savannah-Chatham STEM Academy

    She lists her niece as Brooke M, out of concern for family privacy—I imagine the school will recognize who that is, given the circumstances.

  139. 139.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Bemused senior: I’m late to the thread. I wish you an uneventful surgery with clean margins, positive path reports after, and a speedy recovery.

    Whatever you do, wear only flat shoes for at least 8 weeks. Trust me on that.

  140. 140.

    AnotherBruce

    @Kay: Trump is advocating something. He’s advocating that people with pre-existing conditions should have their health care taken away.

  141. 141.

    ProfDamatu

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: @Bemused senior:

    My best wishes to both you and your friend! I had a complete hysterectomy with the robot assist about two years ago (BRCA2 positive, so it was preventative), and the recovery was much better than I had expected (and certainly easier than the double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction I’d had 6 months prior!). Though I would recommend taking it easier than you think you need to. I had to go back to work within a few weeks of the procedure, and in retrospect the fatigue affected me more than I thought.

    I’d also recommend the website HysterSisters.com – there are a lot of amazing women on there, supporting each other through all manner of GYN-related issues and surgeries.

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